Charge and discharge state display device

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-162985 filed on Oct. 11, 2022, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates to a charge and discharge state display device.

In recent years, in order to maintain the supply-demand balance of power supplied from the power system, a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) that integrates and controls a plurality of distributed energy resources (DER) like a single power plant has been attracting attention. For example, in order to satisfy a demand from an electric power company, it is assumed that a request for Demand Response (DR) is made from a server of an aggregator to an energy management system (e.g., Home Energy Management System (HEMS)) of a consumer via an Energy Management System (EMS) network and a battery mounted on an electrified vehicle is charged and discharged, thereby utilizing the in-vehicle battery as the DER.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-85383 (JP 2012-85383 A) discloses a charge and discharge system having a smart grid control mode and a charge dedicated mode. In the smart grid control mode, a charge and discharge schedule of a battery is created based on various types of information such as a history of power demand in a house, a state of the battery mounted on an electrified vehicle, a present time, and the like, and charging and discharging of the battery is performed in accordance with the schedule. In the charge dedicated mode, the battery is charged by a manual operation of a user. The charge and discharge system described in JP 2012-85383 A is provided with a display that displays whether the charge and discharge state of the battery is in the smart grid control mode and performs a display including a power transmission direction between the charge and discharge device and the battery.

In the charge and discharge system disclosed in JP 2012-85383 A, the consumer (user) can recognize that the charge and discharge state of the battery is charging and discharging based on the charge and discharge schedule. However, when a charge-discharge plug (charge-discharge cable) is detached from the electrified vehicle during charging and discharging based on the charge and discharge schedule, charging and discharging by the charge and discharge schedule is stopped. When the charge and discharge schedule (charge and discharge plan) is created by the server, the server cannot determine whether the user intentionally leaves the charge and discharge plan or charging and discharging are temporarily stopped due to, for example, a communication failure. Therefore, it is difficult to re-plan the charge and discharge plan.

An object of the present disclosure is to make it possible to detect that a user intentionally leaves a charge and discharge plan.

A charge and discharge state display device according to a first aspect of the present disclosure includes: a display unit that displays a charge and discharge state of an electrified vehicle equipped with a battery that is electrically connectable to a power system; and a communication unit that communicates with a server that creates a charge and discharge plan of the battery. The display unit of the charge and discharge state display device displays a first mode display displayed when charging and discharging of the battery is performed based on the charge and discharge plan created by the server, and a second mode display displayed when a user of the electrified vehicle operates to perform charging and discharging of the battery. The first mode display includes an end operation unit that displays completion of charging and discharging of the battery. When the end operation unit is operated, the communication unit of the charge and discharge state display device notifies the server that charging and discharging of the battery is stopped.

According to this configuration, when charging and discharging of the battery is performed based on the charge and discharge plan created by the server, the first mode display is displayed on the display unit. The first mode display includes the end operation unit that displays a message indicating that charging and discharging of the battery is ended, and when the end operation unit is operated, the communication unit notifies the server that creates the charge and discharge plan of the battery that charging and discharging of the battery is stopped. When the user operates the end operation unit, the charge and discharge state display device notifies the server that creates the charge and discharge plan. Therefore, the server can detect that the user intentionally leaves the charge and discharge plan.

In the charge and discharge state display device according to the first aspect, the display unit and the communication unit may be provided in a mobile terminal held by the user.

According to such a configuration, the first mode display and the second mode display are displayed on the mobile terminal held by the user. Therefore, convenience of the user can be enhanced.

In the charge and discharge state display device according to the first aspect, the second mode display may not include an end operation unit that displays completion of charging and discharging of the battery.

According to such a configuration, since the end operation unit is displayed only in the first mode display, the troublesomeness of the user can be reduced.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to detect that the user intentionally leaves the charge and discharge plan.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will not be repeated.

1 FIG. 100 100 20 40 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of a power system including a charge and discharge state display device according to the present embodiment. The power systemof the present embodiment is a VPP system. VPP system is a mechanism that combines a large number of DER by advanced energy management technology using Internet of Things (IoT) and causes these DER to function like a single power plant by remote and integrated control. In the power systemof the present embodiment, a stationary batteryand an electrified vehicleon which a battery is mounted are used as DER.

1 FIG. 100 10 20 40 50 200 As shown in, the power systemincludes a power system PG, a house, a stationary battery, an electrified vehicle, an Electric Vehicle Service Equipment (EVSE), and server. The power system PG is an electric power system including a power plant, a transmission line, a high-voltage substation, and the like, and is an electric power grid managed by an electric power company (a power generation company, a transmission and distribution company, a retail electric power company, and the like).

200 200 The serveris a server managed and operated by the resource aggregator, and performs DER control by directly concluding a VPP service contract with a customer who holds DER. The servercreates a charge and discharge plan of DER based on the requested DR request from the aggregation coordinator or the electric power company.

10 10 10 200 20 10 20 The houseconnected to the power system PG is distinguished from a houseA having HEMS and a houseB having no HEMS. HEMS controls charging and discharging of DER based on the charge and discharge planning transmitted from the server. The stationary batteryis provided in houseA provided with HEMS, and charging and discharging of the stationary batteryare controlled by the HEMS.

40 41 40 41 40 41 Electrified vehicleis configured to be able to travel using electric power stored in the battery. Electrified vehicleaccording to the present embodiment is a battery electric vehicle (BEV that does not include an engine (internal combustion engine), but may be a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). The batteryis composed of, for example, a secondary battery such as a lithium-ion battery or a nickel metal hydride battery. Electrified vehicleincludes an inlet and a charge-discharge circuit (not shown) for charging and discharging the battery.

50 41 50 41 10 41 52 51 50 40 40 50 EVSEis a power supply device corresponding to Vehicle to Home (V2H) (or Vehicle to Grid (V2G), and converts AC power supplied from the power system PG into DC power to charge the battery. EVSEconverts the DC power discharged from the batteryinto AC power and supplies the AC power to the household electrical appliance of the house. Note that the electric power discharged from the batterymay be supplied to the power system PG (reverse power flow). The plug (connector)of the charge/discharge cableof EVSEis connected (plugged in) to the inlet of electrified vehicleso that electrified vehiclecan be charged and discharged (that is, power can be exchanged with EVSE).

50 10 50 10 40 EVSEinstalled in the houseA provided with HEMS is controlled by HEMS, and EVSEinstalled in the houseB without HEMS is controlled by the control unit of the electrified vehicle.

60 40 41 60 40 60 40 The mobile terminalis an exemplary charge and discharge state display device that displays the charge/discharge state of electrified vehicle(battery). The mobile terminalis a mobile terminal held by a user of electrified vehicle, and may be, for example, a smart phone or a mobile terminal. The mobile terminaland electrified vehicleare paired, and form a pair by recognizing both identification numbers (ID), for example.

2 FIG. 200 200 210 220 230 210 220 40 40 40 210 230 60 40 230 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of each device such as the serverin the present embodiment. The serverincludes hardware such as Central Processing Unit (CPU) and memories, and the hardware constitutes functional blocks of the energy management unit, the vehicle management unit, and the communication unit. For example, the energy management unitreceives a DR request from the aggregation coordinator and creates a DR demand plan for the respective DER. For example, if DR request is a raised DR, a DR demand plan is created to perform, for example, charge so that the power consumed by the respective DER is increased. If DR request is a down DR, for example, DER may create a DR demand plan that performs discharging. The vehicle management unitcreates a charge and discharge plan for electrified vehicle. The charge and discharge plan of electrified vehicleis created based on DR demand plan and electrified vehicletimer charge plan created by the energy management unit. The communication unitcommunicates with the mobile terminal, electrified vehicle, HEMS, and the like. The communication unitalso communicates with a server of an aggregation coordinator (not shown).

410 40 411 412 413 414 414 200 50 60 411 41 The control unitof electrified vehicleincludes hardware such as a CPU and a memory, and these hardware components constitute the respective functional blocks of the timer setting unit, the battery management unit, the display control unit, and the communication unit. The communication unitcommunicates with the server, EVSE, the mobile terminal, and the like. The timer setting unitsets timer charging of the battery. The timer charging may be automatically set so as to start charging from an arbitrary time designated by the user or to end charging by an arbitrary time (departure time) designated by the user and to perform charging in a time zone of midnight power.

412 41 41 413 40 The battery management unitdetects the status (e.g., State Of Charge (SOC) of the batteryand executes charge/discharge control of the battery. The display control unitcontrols display of a Human Machine Interface (HMI device (not shown) provided in electrified vehicle. HMI device may be, for example, a multi-information display provided in a dashboard.

610 60 611 612 613 614 614 200 40 611 41 611 411 612 200 220 40 40 41 613 60 The control unitof the mobile terminalincludes hardware such as a CPU and a memory, and the hardware constitutes functional blocks of the timer setting unit, the information collection unit, the display control unit, and the communication unit. The communication unitcommunicates with the server, electrified vehicle, and the like. The timer setting unitsets timer charging of the battery. The function of the timer setting unitis the same as that of the timer setting unit. The information collection unitcollects, from the server(the vehicle management unit) and electrified vehicle, the charge and discharge plan of electrified vehicle, the state of the battery(for example, the state of SOC and charge/discharge), and the like. The display control unitcontrols display of a display (display unit) of the mobile terminal.

200 210 200 220 41 40 210 411 611 41 210 41 DR request transmitted from the aggregation coordinator to the serveris a time-zone (date and time) in which DR is executed and the required charge/discharge power, for example, 30 minutes is set as one frame, and the charge/discharge power in the respective frames is set. Based on DR request transmitted from the aggregation coordinator, the energy management unitof the servercreates a DR demand plan for each DER according to the characteristics and size of each DER. The vehicle management unitcreates a charge and discharge plan of the batterybased on DR demand plan of electrified vehiclecreated by the energy management unitand the plan of the timer charge set by the timer setting unitsand. The charge and discharge plan of the batteryis created so that, for example, when the timer charging is set so that the charging is ended by any time (departure time) designated by the user, the charging/discharging according to DR request plan can be performed while satisfying the charging end time by the timer charging, and the energy management unitand DR request plan are adjusted as needed. Therefore, the charge and discharge plan of the batteryincludes a charge and discharge plan based on DR request and a charge and discharge plan based on the timer charge. The charge and discharge plan based on DR request corresponds to an exemplary “charge and discharge plan created by the server” of the present disclosure.

10 220 50 41 10 220 40 410 40 410 50 41 In the houseA including HEMS, the charge and discharge plan created by the vehicle management unitis transmitted to HEMS and EVSEis controlled by HEMS, thereby performing charge/discharge of the batteryin accordance with the charge and discharge plan. In the houseB without HEMS, the charge and discharge plan created by the vehicle management unitis transmitted to electrified vehicle(the control unit), and electrified vehicle(the control unit) controls EVSEto charge/discharge the batteryin accordance with the charge and discharge plan.

3 3 FIGS.A toC 3 FIG.A 3 FIG.A 620 60 620 60 41 41 show a diagram for describing display items displayed on the display unit (display)of the mobile terminal.is a diagram illustrating a first mode display.is an example of display items displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalwhen the batteryis being charged according to the charge and discharge plan created by the server, and corresponds to an example of “first mode display” of the present disclosure. In the first mode display, a display indicating that charging is in progress (charging is in progress by VPP control) based on the charge and discharge plan created by the server and an end-button Sb are displayed. The end-button Sb corresponds to an exemplary “end operation unit” of the present disclosure. When discharging is executed from the batterybased on the charge and discharge plan created by the server, a message indicating “discharging” is displayed instead of “charging in progress” (for example, “discharging in progress by VPP control” is displayed instead of “charging in progress” by VPP control). Note that the display mode of the end-button Sb may not be “end”, and may be, for example, a display of “stop”, “interruption”, or the like.

3 FIG.B 3 FIG.B 620 60 41 41 41 is a diagram illustrating a second mode display.is an example of display items displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalwhen the batteryis being charged by the timer charging (according to the charge and discharge plan based on the timer charging) or by charging starting operation of the user, and corresponds to an example of “second mode display” of the present disclosure. The timer charging is set by the user, and is included in the user's operation to perform charging and discharging of the battery. In the second mode display, the end-button Sb is not displayed. When discharging is executed from the batteryin response to a user's discharging starting operation or a HEMS request, a message indicating “discharging” is displayed instead of “charging”.

3 FIG.C 3 FIG.C 41 620 60 is a diagram illustrating a stop-display. In, when the batteryis not charged and discharged, the display items are displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminal, and a message indicating “no charge and discharge” is displayed.

4 FIG. 610 60 620 10 41 612 41 41 412 41 10 11 41 10 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of display control processed by the control unitof the mobile terminal. This flowchart is executed when there is a charging state display request operation. The charging state display request operation is performed, for example, by the user pressing a display request button displayed on the display unit. When there is a charge state display operation request, in step (hereinafter, step is abbreviated as “S”), it is determined whether or not the batteryis being charged and discharged. For example, the information collection unitmay determine whether the batteryis being charged or discharged based on the charge and discharge state of the batterycollected from the battery management unit. If the batteryis not being charged or discharged, a negative determination is made by S, and the process proceeds to S. If the batteryis being charged or discharged, an affirmative determination is made in S, and the process proceeds to S.

11 613 620 60 3 FIG.C In S, the display control unitsets the display items displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalto “stop display” (refer to), and ends the present routine.

12 41 41 612 220 12 13 12 14 In S, it is determined whether or not charging and discharging of the batteryare under VPP control. Note that VPP control is performed when the batteryis being charged and discharged based on the charge planning created by the server. For example, the information collection unitmay determine whether or not VPP control is in progress based on the charge and discharge plan and the present time collected from the vehicle management unit. For example, when the current time is the time zone of the charge and discharge plan based on DR request, it is determined that VPP control is being performed, and when the current time is not the time zone of the charge and discharge plan based on DR request, it is determined that the VPP control is not being performed. In S, when it is determined that VPP control is being performed (affirmative determination), the process proceeds to S. In S, if it is determined that VPP control is not in progress (negative determination), the process proceeds to S.

13 613 620 60 14 613 620 60 3 FIG.A 3 FIG.B In S, the display control unitsets the display items displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalas “first mode display” (see), and ends the present routine. In S, the display control unitsets the display items displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalas “second mode display” (see), and ends the present routine.

5 FIG. 3 FIG.A 610 60 620 60 is a flowchart illustrating an example of notification control processed by the control unitof the mobile terminal. When the display items displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalare “first mode display” (refer to), this flow chart is repeatedly processed at predetermined intervals.

20 21 In S, it is determined whether or not the end-button Sb is pressed. When the end button Sb is pressed and the end button Sb is operated, an affirmative determination is made, and the process proceeds to S. If the end-button Sb is not pressed, a negative determination is made, and the routine ends.

21 614 220 200 52 40 In S, the communication unittransmits a charge/discharge stop notification to the vehicle management unitof the server, and then ends the present routine. The charge/discharge stop notification is a notification that the end-button Sb is pressed and the user removes the plugfrom the inlet of electrified vehicle.

200 220 40 41 41 620 614 200 41 21 60 200 200 200 200 220 According to the present embodiment, based on DR request from the aggregation coordinator (the request plan requested by the power system), the server(the vehicle management unit) creates a charge and discharge plan for electrified vehicle(the battery). When the batteryis being charged and discharged based on DR request (during VPP control), the first mode display is displayed on the display unit. The first mode display includes an end button Sb, and when the end button Sb is operated (when pressed), the communication unitnotifies the serverthat charging and discharging of the batteryis stopped (S). When the user operates the end-button Sb, the mobile terminalnotifies the server, so that the servercan detect that the user intentionally leaves the charge and discharge plan (DR request) created by the server. When the server(the vehicle management unit) detects that the user intentionally leaves the charge and discharge plan (DR request), the server can respond to DR request by, for example, re-creating a DR demand plan (charge and discharge plan) of each DER.

620 41 620 According to the present embodiment, the second mode display is displayed on the display unitwhen the charging or discharging of the batteryis executed by the timer charging (according to the charge and discharge plan based on the timer charging) or by the charging and discharging start operation of the user, that is, when the user operates the charging and discharging of the battery based on the needs of the user. The second mode display does not include an end button Sb. Since the end-button Sb is not displayed on the display unitwhen the charging/discharging is not performed based on DR request, the user's troublesomeness can be reduced.

50 41 52 52 In the first mode display, EVSEmay be controlled so that the charging and discharging of the batteryis stopped when the end-button Sb is operated. In this case, when charging and discharging are stopped, the locking mechanism between the plugand the inlet may be released, and the plugmay be pulled out from the inlet.

41 52 40 620 60 52 41 When the end-button Sb is operated, charging and discharging of the batterymay not be stopped. In this case, the locking mechanisms of the plugand the inlet may be released by operating the unlocking operation unit provided in electrified vehicleor the unlocking button displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminal, and the plugmay be removed from the inlet. Further, the charging and discharging of the batterymay be stopped in synchronization with the operation of the unlock operation unit or the unlock button.

60 40 410 40 60 In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the mobile terminalis configured as a “charge and discharge state display device” of the present disclosure. However, electrified vehiclecontrol unitand HMI device (multi-information display) provided in electrified vehiclemay be used as a charge and discharge state display device having the same function as that of the mobile terminal.

200 In the above-described embodiment, the servercreates a charge and discharge plan based on DR request. However, the “charge and discharge plan created by the server” in the present disclosure, in which the charge and discharge plan may be created by the server without being based on DR request, for example, in accordance with the agreement to be executed for the electric power company, is a charge and discharge plan created by the server without being based on the needs of the user of electrified vehicle (without being operated/set by the user).

Modification

6 FIG.A 6 FIG.B 6 FIG.A 6 FIG.A 620 60 620 60 41 41 andare diagrams illustrating display items displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalin a modification. In the modification, the “second mode display” and the “stop display” are the same as those in the above-described embodiment.is a diagram illustrating a first mode display.shows display items displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalwhen the batteryis being charged in accordance with the charge and discharge planning based on DR request. In this modification, the item “demand response” is displayed to indicate that the battery is being charged based on DR request. When discharging is executed from the batterybased on DR request, a message indicating “discharging” is displayed instead of “charging”.

41 50 40 620 60 41 In this modification, the charging and discharging of the batteryis not stopped when the end-button Sb is operated. When the charging/discharging stop operation unit provided in EVSEis operated, or when the charging/discharging stop operation unit provided in electrified vehicleis operated, or when the charging/discharging stop button displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalis operated, the charging/discharging of the batteryis stopped.

6 FIG.B 6 FIG.B 620 60 52 52 52 is a diagram for explaining a transitional indication.is a diagram showing display items displayed on the display unitof the mobile terminalwhen the end-button Sb of the first mode display is operated (pressed). In the “transition display”, the user is alerted to remove the plugafter performing the charge/discharge end operation. Before the plugis pulled out from the inlet, attention is given to performing a charge/discharge end operation, so that convenience in inserting and removing the plugcan be improved.

The embodiment disclosed herein should be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present disclosure is defined not by the above description of the embodiments but by the claims, and is intended to include all possible modifications within a scope equivalent in meaning and scope to the claims.